I need some more power and speed in my kicks. My "sleeper" inperticular...it involves one leg bent at 90 degrees, and the other standing, you side step and small jump to swing the standing the leg at your opponent. Any advice on the training?
Power and speed are produced when your entire body is in the motion of the strike. Repetition will give you proper technique, and proper technique will give you the power.
Cant picture it, but sounds like a jump roundhouse to me. Squating, building stronge calves, and ankle weight definitly helps. I wear my ankle weight anywhere I go
Samurai, it depends on what you define proper technique as. foot manuevering, body position/ with proper rotation (hip,spine and ball of foot), breathing and focus are pertinent to power. I do power and speed demos in several schools in different ma's.
If you want somethign simple, try this. Use a gym machine and work like this. Push up fast, come down as slow as you can, keepign your reps above 10 and at least 3 sets. So on a squat machine, you'd straighten your legs as fast as you could, and bring it down slowly, never locking your knees and never jerking the weight on the forward movement. The slow part build spower while the fast parts builds your speed. Then take a quick rest and find a machine that will let you do the inverse of that, you can have lightning fast quads and hamstrings that take an iceage to move I like using the machines for this as they permit more control over the weight so it can be spread equaly. Edit- Oh, and I almost forgot, practice the kick as much as you possible can with your best technique. And get a skipping rope, yeah you heard me They're great for developing speed, and when you get too good for that, do it on leg.
I agree completely. What I said about proper technique was general, not specific to any certain move. Basically all I'm saying is practice makes perfect. Your points are very valid, and I especially agree about the breathing and focus. Sometimes if I kiap while doing a technique, the power seems to double even!
